March 26, 2012

Woman Suing Apple For Walking Into Glass At Retail Store

by editor

Apple's retail stores are notorious for their sleek-look and glass-doors, but the company may now have to pay a price for its fashionable and modern look.

Whoever washes the windows at the Manhassett Apple Store in Long Island can rest-assured knowing he did his job about as good as anyone could do by luring one 83-year-old to smash right up against it, face first, breaking her nose.

Evelyn Paswall is suing Apple for $75,000 in medical expenses plus punitive damages for negligence totaling $1 million, according to a report by CBS New York.

“Apple wants to be cool and modern and have the type of architecture that would appeal to the tech crowd, but on the other hand, they have to appreciate the danger that this high-tech modern architecture poses to some people," Paswall's attorney Derek T. Smith told the Post.

She claims the glass doors at the front of the Apple Stores pose a risk to the elderly. She said she didn't realize she was walking into a wall of glass as she approached the store.

According to her suit, Apple was negligent "in allowing a clear, see-through glass wall and/or door to exist without proper warning."

Warning strips have now been posted on the glass at Apple's Manhasset store due to the incident.

This Apple Store features floor-to-ceiling glass walls at the front and rear of the store, with doors in the middle at both ends.

Apple installed white stickers on the transparent glass of all Apple Stores to help prevent walkers like Paswall from smashing into it.

However, Paswall's lawyers say the moce was insufficient, and his "client is an octogenarian. She sees well, but she did not see any glass."